[Video] Local Supervillain Introduces Herself (Valentine's Day)

[arthropoda]

It's sudden. Near the end of the day, the comms turn on, and an unfamiliar face appears in it. Or, more precisely, an unfamiliar mask. There's a sinister-looking insectoid mask, with bright yellow eyes, curly hair cascading from the head. The setting is a foggy forest, insects flitting around. This villain is sitting on the forest ground, staring straight at the camera, her body twitching with what seems to be discomfort.

"I want your attention for a few minutes."

Her voice is clear, without distortion other than what's expected from the fact she's wearing a mask. A few people might feel a certain sense of familiarity, although probably without being able to put their finger on it.

"I'm Skitter. That won't mean anything to any of you, and you should consider yourselves lucky it doesn't. Were this my world, you'd have heard of me -- one of the Undersiders, the warlords currently ruling over Brockton Bay's criminal underworld. Dozens of minions under our employment, and a grip tight enough there's no room for debate about who's in charge."

It's all very matter-of-fact, and the more she talks, the less uncomfortable she seems. The burning need to tell the truths and confess is lessening, although it's not gone. Which is why she takes off her mask, revealing Taylor Hebert, that fifteen year old gal who arrived during Christmas.

"This is me. I didn't want to reveal myself like this to any of you, but I think we all know what's been happening today. That and also it's a strategic decision -- I can't go hiding around and using my powers over insects effectively if I have to worry about not getting caught. Better to be straightforward so I can just go around with my costume without alarming anyone."

Taylor sighs.

"I don't intend to be a threat. I know, I'm a villain, and a bad one. No need to tell me that. But I don't want Kuk to win, just like all of you don't want that either. I don't want my world or any other world to be destroyed, and it isn't because of that whole bullshit about, you know..." she makes a vague gesture with a hand. "...if the world is destroyed there won't be anything to rule over. I just want to do what's right."

The burning she has been feeling for a while is finally almost gone. Taylor makes sure her glasses are well placed, and addresses everyone.

"If there's any questions or concerns I'll try to answer, just...don't try to find me. I left to go to a forest far away. It's caution, nothing against you all."

Because who knows how people would react right away. Better to keep her distance for a while, let everything settle in before coming back to the North Pole.

Comments

[manofanxiety]

I guess, if you're answering, questions, why become a villain in the first place?

[arthropoda]

"Not much of a long story there. One night I went out for the first time to try to be a superhero, fought a villain who was going to attack the Undersiders, I defeated him, and after talking to the leader of the Protectorate when the guy I defeated was taken away I decided to infiltrate the Undersiders as a mole, to get enough information."

Taylor's fingers idly trace the lenses of the mask she's holding in her hands while she reminisces, her voice lowering somewhat when she added:

"They turned out to be the friends I needed for support...and the heroes disillusioned me a lot throughout the next few weeks. So I stayed with the Undersiders."

A group of teenagers more or less her age, who brought her in and supported her more than anyone at school had done, and then there were the local heroes organization who included one of her bullies among their ranks and whose leader not only treated her with scorn -- somewhat justifiably so given the villain she had defeated was in pretty bad condition due to her bugs -- but afterwards set her and other villains to die during a monster attack? Yeah, no, the choice became pretty easy, although of course the Undersiders' trust in her was pretty frayed once they heard what her intentions had been.

[manofanxiety]

"So, how did you go from being undercover to becoming a warlord? It is a little bit of a leap."

He's honestly curious. He doesn't exactly get to really ask about the motivations of the villains he fights. That, and it's the reporter in him.

[arthropoda]

"The leader of Brockton Bay's hero team tried to set me and a few others to die while we were fighting alongside them to keep a major threat away, even though he knew what I was trying to do being undercover. Who wouldn't go all in to be on the opposite side of them after that?"

Every word gets her more and more visibly annoyed. There are some regrets about the decision she took, but it's one she would take again if she found herself at such time again.

[bestbrotherever]

One of several warlords vying for control of a single region... Are you truly a bad villain if that is all the power you have managed to amass?

[ninjavampire]

Let's not encourage increasing the scope of the villain plans, Loki.

[ look, it's the no fun brigade. ]

[arthropoda]

Too late, his backhanded encouragement has sparked in me a drive to expand my evil schemes. I'm taking over the planet as soon as I go back.

[Taylor says with a flat tone. It's not like she goes out of her way to mess with the no-fun-brigade, normally, but seeing someone chided for something they said to her kind of annoys her, so she needles Miguel a litte]

[ninjavampire]

[ just as dryly: ]

That explains why you were practicing the Christmas Carols.

[arthropoda]

Yeah, I work like that.

[Taylor pinches the bridge of her nose]

I dunno if it helps make things better or not, but I had just turned myself in right before I was brought to this war against Kuk. They had gotten me in the Protectorate as a hero and all, Weaver instead of Skitter. I'm not out to make things worse, not here and not for where I came from.

[Games of public relationships and the perception of the masses towards capes are complex, but whatever force brought her here didn't really care, apparently, because the costume and stuff she was taken with wasn't the one she was given less than an hour before she found herself in this world, but the one she was used to. Taylor is very grateful for that; the familiarity of her usual costume is nice]

[ninjavampire]

You were up front with the truth on your own, I'd say that covers most of the ground you're hoping for.

[ Miguel is no stranger to the concept of an 'anti-hero', coming from the edgy 90s having knocked heads with a few from time to time. ]

It's not too late to turn things around, common enemy or not. Would you still want to give Weaver a try?

[arthropoda]

It's not like I have a choice...

[Too many agreements and conditions were set based on Skitter turning herself in and taking the mantle of hero, among them the safety of her friends who already were under increased persecution by the Protectorate. She'd do anything for the other Undersiders, including turning herself in for their sake]

But for now, until I go back, I think I'd like to still be Skitter. I can't see myself as a hero, at all.

[ninjavampire]

That sounds like more of a self-perception problem. Try giving it a bit of time.

[ he wasn’t about to argue with a kid about the semantics of it, either. Miguel never really felt like a ‘hero’, it took a while to work at an alter ego he could stand looking at.

Trying to do the right thing is where it starts. ]

But fair enough, Skitter it is.

[arthropoda]

[Honestly, in any other superhero canon, Taylor Hebert could have been the hero she had wanted to be. Unfortunately nah, her world sucks and she cares too much about it even if she had the option to leave it, she'd return and resume her goals. Someone must do it, and she took it on her own shoulders because she has become convinced only she will give it the immediate priority it needs]

I think things will be too busy for me to take some time to sit down and think. I'll ponder it once Kuk isn't breathing down multiple worlds' backs.

[Nobody can't say Taylor isn't invested in this fight against Kuk already, it seems!]

[bestbrotherever]

[huffs]

That is not what I meant.

Are you certain you did not forget to warn me against giving her more than mere ideas?

[ninjavampire]

That didn't cross my mind until you mentioned it just now.

[ Talking to Loki just hits different after they've both suffered through embarrassing winter errands. ]

[bestbrotherever]

Aha! I have successfully tricked you into lowering your guard! Now nothing will stop me from recruiting all the other villains and leading them to conquer and destroy any world I please!

[ninjavampire]

From what I've heard of Pitch, I'd give you about a week before you get fed up with him in this scenario.

[ Miguel has come to discover quite a bit of gossip about His Nightmareishness. ]

[bestbrotherever]

Then I shall have to eliminate him, which I shall surely do easily, as I am a god and he is merely a creature of mortal imagining.

[Locked]

[Though when he switches to a private channel, his teasing grandiose manner is gone.]

And what have you heard?

[Loki's heard some himself, and it's... given him thoughts that should probably be unpacked.]

[arthropoda]

"It's not like we're intentionally vying to take over the city. Climbing up inreputation was a secondary result of things we did."

Result of neutralizing other groups and villains, pretty much. The Undersiders carved themselves a reputation mostly by defeating others instead of aiming to be the head honchos.

"I won't speak for my friends by I'm not interested in being a boogeyman or something."

Although by now she has become one.

[bestbrotherever]

What makes you a bad villain, then, if your goal is neither to rule nor to scare?

[arthropoda]

Don't ask me. I'm not the one who went around labeling myself that willingly. Ask the government breaking their own rules to go after us.

[To be fair, there's plenty of reasons to consider her and the rest of the Undersiders dangerous, but in her eyes -- in her very, very biased reasoning because anything against her and her friends is harsher than it'd be in others, that's a lot of bias that she's not entirely aware of -- the Protectorate is treating them as more evil than they actually are, as a way to justify targeting them more strongly.

Knowing that has kind of taken a toll on her, especially since the main way they broke the unspoken rules was by unveiling her identity right in middle of school so she could get captured easier, painting her as this bad villain that needed to be captured and locked away with the worst ones immediately. Fortunately for Taylor, the students were more aware of the constructive actions she and the Undersiders had been doing, so they helped her escape, but still, having to confess here and now she's a villain brought back some bitterness there, especially since she expects suspicion and scorn from here on]

[bestbrotherever]

Ah. So you are a villain because you are doing questionable things while not being part of the right group.

[arthropoda]

Pretty much. I'm on the side that doesn't have a PR department.

[It's maddening, really]

[bestbrotherever]

[He nods knowingly.]

And the heroes do not need to watch their own conduct, as they are by definition better than villains such as yourself.

[arthropoda]

[Taylor takes a deep breath, and makes herself calm down. Behind her, the insects flittering around get erratic, she pouring her more intense frustration into them instead]

...guess it's what happens when all that's on the top are bullies.

[And everyone on the lower ranks are complicit with 'following orders'. Yeah, no, it all needs changes, urgent]

[bestbrotherever]

[He's not trying to needle her, really. But when they have shared wounds that still sting...]

Particularly when they are in denial about it.

So. Why did they label you a villain? Was it the nature of your powers? Did you cross a line and become the scapegoat they could expel and so they can say they have standards? [He's... sort of both.]

[arthropoda]

The latter. I crossed a line while I was getting my bearings at the start.

I used my bugs too recklessly while fighting Lung, the first villain I ever faced. The leader of the hero team, Armsmaster, took Lung away to the hospital after he arrived once it was over, and he took all the credit for that defeat because that's what we agreed when we talked after that.

Things got real ugly at the hospital because bugs can really mess you up if they want to. Armsmaster got scolded for it pretty bad.

[That was a lot of venom and gangrene and what not]

That got me on Armsmaster's bad side and it all went downhill fast from there with the heroes. It also didn't help some of my first outings as a villain while I still toyed with maybe being some sort of undercover spy among the Undersiders included doing things like breaking into a fundraiser the heroes were part of.

[Taylor scratches with a nail the lenses of her mask]

I won't lie, I did a lot of wrongs, but after some things they did and after finding so much of their skeletons in the closet you just realize the terms are meaningless.

[bestbrotherever]

[His lip curls in a sneer.]

What an ideal mentor. And as he was the leader, I can only presume he was far from an unfortunate outlier.

You are still young, and you must have only been younger at the time. What you needed was proper guidance, not to be hidden from sight and made into a spy. A reckless outing requires more oversight, not less.

Did you discover other "villains" who were like yourself, neglected and rejected by the heroes?

[ferengineer]

I can understand the caution, but I think everyone here is pragmatic enough that they can work with people who've done things they don't necessarily 100% approve of.

Something like this doesn't let you be picky about that kind of thing.